Wow, SAEs are great!

[yhbae]

Well, I was going to black out my tank to remove hair algae. Then one of my friend offered to lend me some SAEs for one off clean up. I told him I had them few years ago and they were no good for hair algae. He says try it, these are good.

So I did. After 2 days, I can clearly see the differences. These guys do eat hair algae and they eat well. I must have had one of those fake SAEs before because they never ate like these guys are doing so far.

+1 to SAEs! Better than Oto and bristlenose pleco (which poops too much) for cleaning algae.

After this, and with significant light reduction, I hope I will not have to deal with these algaes again.

 

[Reframer]

Sorry, I'm new...what are SAEs? I like Ottos but can't keep them because of my very hard water.

 

[jpappy789]

siamese algae eaters

I wish they were more common in my area. Everything labeled as an SAE is actually a flying fox. :shakehead:

 

[Reframer]

Oh, ok I've seen them before and was wondering what they were like, how big do they get?

jpappy789- I see you are in Eagan, we have a nice Petsmart here in st.anthony that is very well kept and I have seen them there, also I sometimes see them in the HarMar petshop.

 

[yhbae]

In the natural environment, they are supposed to go up to 6 inches but in aquariums, apparently they rarely go that big. Usually minimum recommended tank size is 20g but obviously bigger the better.

I've studied the pattern again carefully between flying fox and true SAE so now I can sort of tell the differences between the two. I'm still not sure what I had few years ago.

People claim this is the best algae eater, and I believe it.

 

[jpappy789]

reframer- thanks! Unfortunately I don't get to that side of the cities often but I'll keep that in mind

 

[yhbae]

Oh yes and these cannot be tank bred so all SAEs in your store are WC. And they tend to come seasonally hence you will not see them all the time... Not sure when is the right season though.

 

[Jalo Reefa']

they aren't so "great" when they get older/larger. they are mean as all heck and stop eating algae

 

[noodles62]

MG has SAE's and will ship....

 

[noodles62]

they aren't so "great" when they get older/larger. they are mean as all heck and stop eating algae

CAE's get mean, SAE's do not.